


The Dawn Will Come

by DarkxPrince



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 16:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21479587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkxPrince/pseuds/DarkxPrince
Summary: After the Battle of Haven, Solumera Adaar - the Herald of Andraste - reflects on all that had happened. Can her almost nonexistent faith and hope be rekindle?
Kudos: 1





	The Dawn Will Come

“I don’t know what I believe.”

Solumera pushed herself up off the cot, limping to the lip of the tent and leaning heavily on the post. The Qunari woman gazed out on the ragtag campsite, watching as people moved about or stared into campfires. No matter what the people were doing, they all shared this nonchalant despondency and really, Solumera couldn’t blame them. They had just lost their homes, their loved ones … they had been on the high of victory, only to be cast down. It had been going so right, their plans had seemingly worked and it appeared the danger had passed … then it all went wrong.

Together with the mages, the Qunari woman had sealed the Breach into the Fade - the realm of dreams, spirits, and demons. There were still some lingering Rifts, tears between this world and the Fade, yet the largest had been sealed. No new Rifts were opening and demons no longer fell from the sky. The only indication that the Breach had ever existed were the swirling green clouds that lingered. Though Solumera had been worried that she had not properly sealed it, it was no longer the massive portal it had been. Together they returned to Haven, their base of operations, in triumph and they celebrated. They sang and danced and drank into the night, not a care in the world.

Solumera did not take part in much of the celebrating, instead she watched the people from afar. Even though she had saved them, many were wary of her because of her being a Qunari. Not that she really minded, she never liked being the center of attention anyway. Not that she was ever really able to blend into the background - the greatsword strapped to her back was often enough to draw people’s attention towards her and being a Qunari usually two heads taller than everyone else certainly didn’t help matters either. Besides, the only time she actually minded attention being on her was in the middle of a battle, when she was trying to protect her companions. It seemed that no matter what, Solumera drew attention to herself wherever she went … and she had drawn the worst kind of attention upon herself.

“ _ Shadows fall and hope has fled, steel your heart, the dawn will come. _ ” Mother Giselle’s voice nearly startled her out of her skin. The Reverend Mother sang softly, yet it seemed to carry all throughout the campsite for all to hear.

The enemy force had blindsided them, the only warning they had were mere minutes before they were upon them. In all truth the battle had been decided before it had even began, they were too unprepared, too unorganized to mount a proper defense. The Inquisition's forces were no match for the corrupted Templar forces. Even so, Solumera led the defense herself, rescuing those who she could as Haven burned around them. It had seemed they would all die there, when Chancellor Roderick revealed a secret passageway for the Inquisition to escape through. Even with the escape route, it would do no good if they were followed through it by the enemy forces and if that happened - well Solumera had tried not to think about the massacre it would be.

So then it was up to her to buy time so that everyone else could escape. It was not the wisest of decisions to make, to send all of her companions into the tunnel with the refugees. But what else was she to do? She couldn’t - in good conscience - let her companions fight a hopeless battle with her. Besides, for whatever reason, the enemy was more interested in her than they were in the other Inquisition forces. That was how she found herself cornered between a corrupted dragon and the commander of the enemy forces - Corypheus. He was not corrupted the same as the Templars that he commanded, yet still was an inhuman monstrosity who claimed she had stolen from him. Stolen the same mark which sat upon her left hand and which was able to close the rifts into the fade. Apparently he was there to reclaim it from her, not that he had been successful.

At least Solumera had been able to buy all the time that she needed so the Inquisition forces could get away. As a last defiant act, she fired the only remaining trebuchet into the mountain side. The resulting explosion set off an avalanche which buried Corypheus’ forces and had very nearly buried her along with. It was either blind luck or divine intervention which caused Solumera to plummet into a ravine.

“ _ The night is long and the path is dark, look to the sky - for one day soon, the dawn will come. _ ” Mother Giselle continued to sing, drawing everyone’s attention to where she and Solumera stood.

She had no way of knowing how long she had been at the bottom of the ravine, buried beneath the snow. Eventually she had dragged herself out, battered and bruised and all but drained of energy. She stumbled out of the cave into the welcoming arms of a raging blizzard, the cold biting into her even through her armor. Still dazed from the fall and exhausted from the battle, Solumera set out through the blizzard. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she couldn't stay so close to Haven and risk being found by any of the surviving enemy forces. So she set out into the barren wasteland, hoping - perhaps even praying - to find some shred of evidence to point her in the right direction.

It was hours - perhaps even days - before she stumbled past a campfire, the ashes frozen solid. How long it had been there was impossible to tell. Had it been the Inquisition forces as they moved away from Haven? Or had it been from some unlucky traveler? Still, she took it as a sign that she was heading in the right direction. Setting off once again into the raging blizzard, Solumera stumbled along. It felt like days more that she was dragging herself through knee deep snow. Eventually the cold had burrowed so deep within her, sapping what little remained of her strength, she had no strength to continue on. Stumbling over her own feet she collapsed in a heap, tumbling and rolling down the hill. As darkness settled over her vision, she had barely heard Cullen shout that they had found her.

“ _ The shepherd's lost and his home is far. Keep to the stars, the dawn will come. _ ” Leliana’s voice joined Mother Giselle, along with several other Inquisition soldiers soon after.

Which brought her back to the present, having awoken to the sounds of Cullen, Leliana, Josephine, and Cassandra bickering amongst themselves. Solumera was still far too weak to do anything, though she supposed that she should have been happy that they were alive. She also supposed that she should be happy that it was indeed Inquisition forces that had found her and no one else. Solumera wanted to storm over and break up the bickering as she had done in the past, yet it seemed they stormed away from each other before she could move. Mother Giselle had made her presence known then, and they had conversed about what had happened at Haven … about what she had learned from their enemy.

“ _ The night is long and the path is dark. Look to the sky, for one day soon … the dawn will come. _ ” Cullen added his voice along with several others until it seemed the entirety of the camp was singing together.

According to Corypheus, he had entered the heavens to find the seat of the maker empty - that there was no god. Solumera herself couldn't really say that she had been overly shocked or affected by this revelation. She was not a religious person; she had never truly believed in the Andrastian faith and she had grown up outside of the Qun. Yet, for the first time in her life, she was almost doubting what she believed in. Not because of whatever Corypheus believed he had discovered so many centuries ago, but merely because of her time with the Inquisition. Time and time again, Solumera was finding that they were accomplishing the impossible. They had allied with the mages to close the breach, and she had survived the battle of Haven. Was it merely luck that they had completed such tasks … or was there really divine aid? Was Corypheus lying when he said that the seat of the Maker was empty? Could the Maker and Andraste really have chosen her as their Herald?

“ _ Bare your blade and raise it high. Stand your ground, the dawn will come. _ ” It seemed as if the whole of the camp had gathered around her, some kneeling and some with their arms across their chest in a salute. 

As Solumera gazed out across all who had gathered, she was startled to realize that they were bowing to her. Bowing as if they were all in the Chantry praying to Andraste and the Maker. Why were they doing that? She was no prophet … at least, she didn’t really believe that she was. At some level she could almost understand how they viewed her as such. She had, afterall, seemingly returned from the grave not once but twice. Was that really all the proof that they needed to believe in divine intervention?

“ _ The night is long and the path is dark. Look to the sky, for one day soon … the dawn will come. _ ” There were a few minutes of silence before they all started to disperse.

“Faith may not have found you,” Mother Giselle’s voice was soft, barely above a whisper. “But it has already found them.” Mother Giselle moved away then, presumably to see to the other refugees from Haven.

Which left Solumera alone with her thoughts. Did all of these people really believe in her? Were they really putting all of their faith in her? She wasn’t really sure she was comfortable with that fact.

“A moment of your time?” Solas said, drawing her out of her thoughts. She followed him away from the main camp, still within sight but with no worry they might be overheard. He lit a simple torch with his magic, gazing into the flames as if trying to collect his thoughts. “I saw the artifact which Corypheus wielded against you.”

“You recognized it?” Solumera inquired, not truly surprised at the fact that Solas knew what it was. And if he didn’t really know what it was, perhaps at least he knew where it came from.

“Yes,” he answered evenly, almost guarded.

It sounded as if he didn’t want to tell her, which could only mean … “It’s Elven, isn’t it?” Solumera supplied for him. “Why not bring this up with the others as well?”

“You are Qunari, correct?” Solas said as if it explained everything and she would understand his meaning. Perhaps in a way it did, but he continued anyway, “You are no stranger to being mistreated simply for being different.”

So that’s why he didn’t bring this up with Cullen, Leiliana, or Josephine. “You’re worried that the Elves will be treated even worse than they are now if people found out about it.” Solas inclined his head in agreement, still merely gazing into the flames. “It doesn’t really matter, we’re lost with no power to stand against him.”

Solas finally turned to regard her, “Then you will need every advantage. The people here look to you, guide them. There is a fortress to the north, waiting for a force to claim it.”

So it was that they found themselves with a vague destination in mind, yet it was better than wandering the wilds mindlessly. They trekked through the mountains, going slower than Solumera had expected simply because there were still wounded troops. It was so strange to her, that so many people were following her when she had no proof that they were going to find anything. Was that what faith and hope did to a person? Perhaps so, for as the sun rose and the stronghold came into view … something told Solumera that she belonged there. And maybe, just maybe, she could start to hope again.


End file.
